Azure Boards - Board Columns

Understanding Board Columns

Board columns represent the stages of your team's workflow. Each column on a Kanban or task board visually tracks work items as they move from inception to completion. Properly defining and configuring these columns is crucial for visualizing progress, identifying bottlenecks, and improving your team's efficiency.

In Azure Boards, you can customize the columns to align with your specific development process. This flexibility allows you to tailor your boards to various methodologies like Scrum, Kanban, or custom workflows.

Adding and Renaming Columns

To manage your board columns:

Navigate to your Azure Boards project.
Go to Boards > Boards.
Select your board (Kanban or Taskboard).
Click the gear icon () in the upper-right corner of the board to open the board configuration settings.
Select Columns from the left-hand menu.
Click Add column to create a new stage in your workflow.
You can rename existing columns by clicking on their current name and typing the new desired name.

Mapping Columns to Work Item States

Each column on your board needs to be mapped to one or more work item states. This mapping determines which work items appear in which column.

In the Columns settings:

For each column, you'll see a list of associated work item states.
Click Add work item state to associate a new state with a column.
Click the 'x' next to a state to remove its association with the column.
Ensure that your work item types have the necessary states defined in their process template.

Tip: It's good practice to have a clear one-to-one mapping between states and columns for simpler workflows. However, for more complex processes, a single column might represent multiple states (e.g., "In Progress" could include "Developing", "Code Review", and "Testing").

Reordering Columns

The order of your columns on the board configuration screen directly dictates their visual order on the board itself. You can drag and drop columns to rearrange them.

In the Columns settings, use the drag handles (typically a set of dots or lines) next to each column name.
Drag the column to its desired new position.
Click Save to apply the changes.

Column Options: WIP Limits and Percentiles

Advanced configuration options allow you to refine your board's effectiveness:

Work In Progress (WIP) Limits:

WIP limits help prevent teams from starting too much work at once, promoting focus and flow. You can set a maximum number of work items allowed in a column (or a group of columns).

In the Columns settings, expand the Column options section for the desired column.
Enter a number in the WIP limit field.
If the number of items in the column exceeds the WIP limit, the column header will turn red, visually flagging a potential bottleneck.

Swimlanes:

Swimlanes allow you to group work items horizontally based on specific criteria, such as priority, team, or feature. This can provide a clearer view of different types of work on the same board.

Navigate to the Swimlanes tab in the board configuration.
Choose your desired swimlane type (e.g., Rows based on query, Rows based on field).
Configure the query or field to define your swimlanes.

Important: Properly defining your columns and their states is fundamental to leveraging Azure Boards for efficient workflow management and continuous improvement. Regularly review and adapt your column configuration as your team's process evolves.

Example Workflow Configuration

Here's a common workflow setup for a Kanban board:

Column: To Do
  States: New, Approved

Column: In Progress
  States: Committed, In Development, Ready for Test

Column: Done
  States: Resolved, Closed

In this example, work items move from "New" or "Approved" into "In Progress" as they are committed, developed, and tested. Once testing is complete and the item is resolved, it moves to "Done".

Configuring Board Columns